To the uninitiated, this is a stereotype about the dining preferences of African Americans. It is also a stereotype that is now incredibly dated. (And who knows? Maybe, like me, Woods actually likes fried chicken?)

But it remains a racially-charged comment. And Garcia surely knew that, and knew that golfer Fuzzy Zoeller got in hot water for making the exact same comment in 1997 at the Masters.

Woods called the comment “hurtful.” Garcia has since apologized, saying it wasn’t intended to be racist.

Basically what this boils down to is yet another triumph for Woods over Garcia, and yet another self-inflicted wound for the talented yet seemingly fatally-flawed Spaniard, who has spent his career tilting at windmills, demons of his own creation. The Woods-Garcia “feud” started back in the 1999 PGA Championship. Garcia, then a fresh-faced 19 year-old with an electrifying game, lit up the crowd for the week, especially on the 16th hole on the last day, when he hit a recovery shot for the ages, and ran up the fairway and leapt in the air like Fred Astaire. Woods would go on to win, beating Garcia by one stroke, but the tension between the two was firmly established.

In 2000, at a silly exhibition called the “Battle of the Bighorn,” Garcia triumphed over Woods and celebrated like he’s just won the green jacket at Augusta.

Their feud went into overdrive at this year’s Players Championship. Paired together in the third round, Garcia accused Woods of purposely creating noise in the fairway, which caused the Spaniard to hit a wayward shot. A war of words ensued over the following week which, frankly, is just too tedious to recount here. Suffice it to say that they both sounded and acted like two bratty school kids.

But Woods triumphed again here. In the end, he was the more disciplined, waiting patiently for Garcia to implode, which he very much did with the “fried chicken” comment. In the process, Garcia may have even turned Woods into a more sympathetic character.

And so here we are, back in familiar territory for Garcia. His career reads like one long list of mishaps, near-misses and verbal gaffes. Garcia has long been saddled with the double-edged moniker of “the best player who has yet to win a major championship.” He’s imploded in a few of them. In the 2007 British Open, he held a three-shot lead on the final day, then eventually blew it and lost to Padraig Harrington in a playoff. He would lose the 2008 PGA Championship to Harrington as well, after finding the water on the 16th hole to lose sole ownership of the lead.

His disclosures to the media over the years have also been self-defeating. In 2009 he publicly talked about how being dumped by Morgan-Leigh Norman, daughter of the golfer, Greg Norman, led to a prolonged slump. In 2012 he told the media that he would probably never win a major, saying: “I’m not good enough…I don’t think I have the thing I need to have…I need to play for second or third place.”

And then, of course, there was his hard-to-watch meltdown in this year’s Players Championship, when he dunked two balls into the water at the famous 17th hole, dropping from a tie for the lead with Woods, who went on to win the event. As with the recent war of words, all Woods had to do was wait for Garcia to do himself in.

Garcia’s latest gaffe may garner the most attention of all of them, and deservedly so. There are lines that one must never cross, especially in a public forum.

Zoeller, after making his comments in 1997, was dropped by two of his sponsors (KMart and Dunlop). Garcia, who claims among his sponsors, could possibly see the same fate.

In the end, the saga of Garcia’s career is merely sad. Garcia has immense talent on the golf course (which he has demonstrated in Ryder Cups) and some charisma off the course. But much—if not all—of that has gone to waste, thanks to his self-inflicted wounds both on, and off, the course.